Heretofore, there were known individual measuring systems such as the vehicle separation measuring system of U.S. Pat. No. 3,796,864, which system measured only distance between vehicles but no time-difference or any other comparative data; also several systems of communication to individual vehicles for weather warning as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,397; or emergency communication system of U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,119; or vehicle speed monitoring system which signals in the vehicle that the allowable speed limit is exceeded in U.S. Pat. No. 3,686,043; or freight security system for electronic surveillance of freight from a central control as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,668.
None of the previous systems above mentioned is capable of instantaneous selective indication, on a hand-held portable apparatus, of the speed of the selected vehicle, and the distance between the moving vehicles, as in a race, and to keep track of position standings and lap times, which can be accomplished by manipulating selected buttons on the hand-held apparatus. Furthermore, none of the prior art is capable simultaneously to also display the selected characteristics of moving vehicles on a billboard.
The primary object of the invention is to provide a system whereby vehicles along multiple monitoring points broadcast their own attitude and position, and to provide simple portable units receiving and translating selectively the information on any of several moving vehicles.
Another object of the invention is to provide a simple system for detecting the unique signals of a number of vehicles at multiple monitoring points on a given track and to translate the detected signals for information on the attitude and comparative location and other selected characteristics of the respective vehicles.